Morrigan Songsheet

By sarahpavey, Feb 5 2016 11:43AM

2016 sees us beginning work on our second CD which will be a mixture of our songs with no particular theme. We are taking advantage of the downtime while we wait for Ros's broken ankle to mend but have some exciting things lined up for later in the year.

In January we took part in the Greenwich Pleasaunce Wassail celebrations again along with Greenwich Morris and this year the weather was kind. It was another opportunity to wear our steampunk outfits and this video captures the spirit of the event.

Our only gig in February will be as guests at Faversham Folk Club where our friend Bob Kenward will be MC for the night.

The other new venture is a collaboration between GFMA and Mycenae House where we will be hosting a Song and Dance Acoustic Night on the last Friday of the month - beginning on April 29th. The idea is to have a ceilidh with a difference. There will be song and performance slots between the dances and anyone will be welcome to join the band for playing for the dances. Each month will feature a different culture and hopefully a dance from that country too - we have a Kora player and a Chinese instrumentalist lined up already. There should be something for everyone - including a bar and food on sale should you want it. More details will appear soon on the Mycenae House website.

By sarahpavey, Oct 31 2015 03:30PM

After our summer break we spent some time sorting out our programme for Tenterden Folk Festival and introducing some of our new repertoire including The Ripe and Bearded Barley which we arranged having heard Bob and Kathy Drage sing it at the Woolpack last year.

We began with a return visit to the Cheshire Cheese as part of the Brandenburg Fringe Festival on 15th September. This time there were only two acts (we shared the stage with Vocal Eclipse) so we had a slightly longer slot allowing us to showcase a range of our styles.

On the first weekend of October we set off to the wonderful Tenterden Festival. We began at guests at the singaround at the William Caxton pub where Festival organiser Alan Castle told us that Gordon Tyrrall had pulled out of the Festival for personal reasons and asked us if we would be willing to do an extra slot “Meet Morrigan” or “argue with Morrigan” as we prefer it on the Sunday afternoon.

On Friday evening, about an hour before the Saddlery concert Chris E realised he had left his performance clothes behind and a mad dash to Matalan saved the day ….or so we thought …unfortunately the shirt inside was actually a size smaller than what was stated on the outside packaging so poor Chris was looking a bit like the incredible hulk. We had a great concert sharing in a round robin style with Mick Ryan & Paul Downes, Roy Clinging and Pete Castle.

The next day we headed to an instrumental session at the White Lion at lunchtime and then joined Chris Harrison at the Caxton where he was performing his songs and we sang Willie to Jinny together at the close of the session. We then followed Chris H to the Saddlery for his workshop on Carols from the Coalfields and again joined him for one song. After a bit of a break and banter with friends in the chip shop we got ready for our 2 hour slot at the Vine. Despite the alternative attraction of the world cup rugby (an important game for Ing ger land we were told) we drew a good crowd and particularly welcomed the support from Alan Castle (I was only going to stay 5 mins but I’ve been drawn into staying for an hour) and Adrian O (Ah that will be the magic of the Morrigan). We were able to sing lots of songs and play some instrumentals too.

We began Sunday with the singaround in the Caxton garden – the weather all weekend being amazing and then moved on to The Saddlery for our Meet Morrigan slot. We had some interesting questions fired at us from the audience (notably morris people in disguise as members of the public) but the session was ably facilitated by Pete Castle who gave us opportunities to play and sing throughout. It was nice to see our friends Scold’s Bridle and Doug Welch from BBC Kent there too.

We finished our festival at where else but the William Caxton in the evening. A rousing chorus of songs brilliantly compered as ever by Bob Kenward, Malcolm Ward and Roger Resch – so looking forward to guesting at their folk club Nellie’s in December. We were very touched by Alan Castle thanking Morrigan publically for our support and contribution to the Festival and very humbled by the huge round of applause that followed from fellow performers and festival attendees.

By sarahpavey, Feb 12 2015 12:11PM

The 4th January was a busy day for Morrigan both in reality and on the airwaves. We started the morning with a performance at St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham, South London where we entertained both patients and their relatives ans staff over lunch. We received a warm welcome from everyone and applause after every song or tune. We were rewarded with a much appreciated roast dinner and look forward to returning to this venue.

In the evening we were invited to visit Cheam Folk Club and felt honoured when asked to perform an additional slot by a couple of singers who said they would rather hear us than sing themselves! This is such a friendly club and is really inclusive with lots of participation from everyone in both tunes and songs. We will definately be back here before too long.

BBC Radio Kent also played one of the songs from our CD "As the crow flies" - The January Man on Doug Welch's Folk Show that same evening - we caught it using the listen again feature.

A few days later on the 8th January we ventured across the Thames to Loughton Folk Club where we were supporting Thursday's Band with Mark Gamon. We had two spots - one in each half - and the songs seemed to go down well as we sold some CDs afterwards. Again this was a lovely club, very friendly with a tradition of singing "Take your Glasses to the Bar" at the end. We were surprised by a last minute request to lead this in 4 part harmony to the tune of Will Ye No Come Back Again - so popular that we were asked to do it twice!!!

The following Sunday we had our annual visit to the Greenwich Pleasaunce for their wassail celebrations annointing the fruit trees in the orchard with cider. It was cold but luckily sunny when we did our spot. We drew a crowd and sold an amazing number of CDs at the end. We stayed on for the procession but the cold and by now overcast sky meant we left to find some hot food and sadly we missed the afternoon performances.

...and so on to February and practice for our forthcoming return visit to The Cheshire Cheese with the Brandenburg Fringe. We are looking forward to meeting up with the Academix again and newcomers Treblemakers at this venue. It is quite small so do book in advance if you want to come and see us.

By sarahpavey, Jan 11 2015 12:44AM

...and Morrigan were certainly kept busy over the last month!

We began with album launch at the Charlton House Wassail. Unfortunately John Kirkpatrick was unable to perform due to the sudden death of his wife and we were thrust unexpectedly into the top slot. We had some good supporters and did our best to muster as many friends as we could to come. We send our heart felt condolences to John and his family and hope he may revisit Charlton House later this year. The gig went very well and we rounded off our performance with a set of sing a long carols for the audience and other performers on various instruments including Chris E making his debut on cornett. We were completely blown away by the amazing review in the Greenwich Visitor and we are as ever indebted to Louisa and her fantastic team at GFMA for their support and organisation - not to mention selling our CDs.

Later in the same week we were honoured to be supporting the fantastic Les Barker at TwickFolk. The Cabbage Patch is a great venue and the acoustics really suited our voices with some good mixing from the TwickFolk team. Les Barker was so funny we spent most of the night with tears of laughter running down our face. We had a brilliant evening and hope to return to this friendly club soon

Our next stop was a live recording with Doug Welch at BBC Radio Kent. We braved the wind and the rain to make it down to the Tunbridge Wells' studio. The recording went well and Doug put us at ease. It was strange driving back with the radio on and hearing ourselves singing.

We also heard that Mike Norris had played The Gower Wassail on his Folk Show at The Wireless UK which was a nice bonus and were feeling quite the radio stars by Christmas! We now knoe that we have invitations to The Cellar Upstairs in March and hope to find a mutually convenient slot at Music Traditions as unfortunately we were already booked for an invited date.

January proved busy again ....more on that next month

Happy New Year to our followers!

Photos below of the stage and us performing at Charlton House Wassail and of us singing at TwickFolk

By sarahpavey, Dec 9 2014 03:59PM

On 22nd November we took part in a charity concert at Tadworth Village Hall to raise funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres Ebola Campaign. It was a really varied evening organised by Sutton Acoustic. The evening kicked off with a scratch band Blackbriar playing bluegrass and country with Molly belting out the songs. This was follwed by Sara O'Keefe and Martin Karran playing and singing some well known contemporary folk favourites brilliantly executed despite Sara's cold. Next came the fabulous Choro Bandido with a funky Brazilian sound and then Morrigan took the stage. Poor Chris E had just rushed from a ceilidh gig in Vauxhall but you would never have known it. We were asked to sing our Christmas repertoire so starting the proceedings blasting out Noel, Noel seemed a little odd on a mild and misty mid November evening. We were well received and sold some CDs and we gave all the money to the Ebola cause. The evening wrapped up with a Balalaika duo and then finally the Steve Eggs band brought the evening to a close.

All in all it was a great event and we were proud to be part of it. We raised over £500 for the Ebola Campaign.

Now forward to our real Christmas events and in particular our album launch at Charlton House on 11th Dec.